Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Storm of Legends
by MegaSerperior
Summary: Shira has always been completely in control of her situations. That is, until she wakes up one day and finds that she's a litten. With her tactless partner Hayden at her side, she must find out who's behind the strange weather patterns, natural disasters, and the pokémon going missing before it's too late. Signs point to Groudon and Kyogre, but are they really the ones to blame?
1. Alone In the Dark

Chapter One - Left Alone In the Dark

* * *

Hannah shivered as a chill wind blew through the air. The forest was eerie. The trees were nearly bare of leaves, and curls of fog swept around her as she drifted just above the ground. The forest was known for having strong pokémon, but she and the rest of her team had run into none so far, and there was not even a sound that might mean one was there. It was almost unnatural, to be so empty and devoid of life. There was something profoundly wrong about the place.

"This place creeping you out too?" Lyla, the growlithe who was leading her, asked.

"Yeah," Hannah admitted. "Doesn't it seem weird to you that we haven't come across any pokémon so far? I mean, the forest is notorious for having them."

Lyla shrugged. "Maybe there's some ritual that the wild pokémon do on this night." When Hannah still didn't look convinced, Lyla said, "We're just lucky. There's nothing to worry about."

"Okay," Hannah said, though she was still wary. "But let's hurry. It's cold out, and we should find Azumarill as soon as possible anyway."

"How far do you think we've gone in?" Chrissy, a skitty, asked, glancing back behind her.

"I don't know," Hannah said. They'd been traveling for a while, starting out a couple hours before sunset, so by now they must have been deep in the forest.

"Pretty far, I'd guess, but the forest is known for being huge, so we could still have a while to go."

Chrissy sighed. "I was hoping we'd almost be done," she said. "But I guess there's a reason that Azurill could only find _us_ to accept the rescue."

"That, and the reason that the higher-leveled teams wouldn't take it either," Jaylee, the fourth member of their team, said darkly, shooting Hannah a glare from her position at the back. Her wings were folded across her chest.

"I know how you feel about this, Jaylee," Hannah said, turning to the piplup. "But the decision's final."

"Just because you're the leader of our team," Jaylee muttered. "They didn't want to come, either."

Hannah glanced at her other teammates. Neither of them said anything to contradict Jaylee's accusation. But they hadn't objected to coming here either.

"Well, we couldn't just leave Azurill without any one to rescue her mother," Hannah snapped. "You saw how desperate she was."

"There's a reason she was desperate," Jaylee replied. "Everyone knows that Azumarill probably isn't going to make it. Even Azurill probably knew."

"That's not why she was desperate!" Hannah protested. "She was desperate because her mother was missing!"

"Yes," Jaylee said. "But that wasn't the only rea... son?" She stopped mid-word, staring into an overgrown bush that lined the path.

"Did anyone see something there?" she asked, gesturing to the bush. Hannah peered into the dark tangle of branches.

"I don't see anything," she said. "What did you think you saw?"

"I didn't _think_ I saw it," Jaylee snapped. "It was actually there. And it was just a pair of eyes."

"Must have been one of the forest pokémon," Lyla commented. "As long as it doesn't attack, we'll be fine."

"Everyone keep an eye out," Hannah said. "In case we see another one."

"Maybe they're coming out now that it's night," Chrissy suggested.

Hannah shook her head. "It's been night for a while now. That one's probably just the first to wander near."

"Or we haven't been paying that much attention," the skitty said. "Cause I know that I haven't."

"Yes, but you never pay attention," Hannah replied. "You're just unobservant."

"So?" Chrissy protested. "It's dark!"

"It wasn't before~" Hannah replied in a sing-song voice.

"Yeah, well, whatever!" Chrissy said. "We we were discussing... why we've only just started to see pokémon."

"I actually think Chrissy is right," Lyla said. "About us not paying attention, I mean. Was anyone paying close attention before now?"

"I was," Hannah said.

"Did you see anything?" Lyla asked. "Anything at all?"

"Well... I thought I might have seen something," Hannah replied. "But it was probably just the wind."

"I thought so," Lyla said, nodding to herself. "It was probably noth-OUCH!" Lyla winced, looking behind her.

"Sorry!" Chrissy said! "I wasn't watching where I was going!"

"Chrissy..." Hannah groaned. "You're supposed to stay by Jaylee!"

"I know, I know," Chrissy said, walking back behind Hannah. "Sorry, Jaylee."

Hannah felt a sudden droplet on her wooden helm.

"Just what we need," Lyla growled. "Rain to wash away Azumarill's scent."

"You can run if you want," Hannah said. "We'll keep up."

"No, I can't keep the scent when I'm running," Lyla said. "But we can only hope that we can find Azumarill before the rain destroys the trail."

"Jaylee?" Chrissy called into the darkness.

"What's wrong, Chrissy?" Hannah asked, turning around to see her skitty friend. But no sign of a piplup... "Where's Jaylee?"

"I'm so sorry guys!" Chrissy said frantically. "I lost her!"

"You couldn't have lost her in the time that you wandered up here," Lyla reasoned. "But she should be able hear us though..."

"Jaylee!" Chrissy called out frantically. "Jaylee, where are you?!"

"Jaylee!"

"Jaylee, can you hear us?!"

"It's no use." Lyla sighed. "She must have wandered off and gotten lost."

"I'm so sorry," Chrissy whispered.

"It's not your fault," Lyla said firmly. "She'd have heard us if she'd lost us then. When was the last time anyone heard her?"

"It must have been..." Hannah frowned. "It must have been when she saw those eyes in the bush."

"Do you think she went back to investigate it?!" Lyla asked, already turning around and heading back. "She can't even see!"

"Maybe we shouldn't have come at night. Then Jaylee would've known where she was going," Chrissy said. "But Azurill was so..." She trailed off, unsure what to say.

"I know," Hannah said. "We couldn't just leave her without any one to rescue her mother."

They walked on in silence for a few moments. Hannah glanced upwards at what little sky she could see through the trees. It was overcast; dense gray clouds covered the sky, hiding the stars and only revealing the moon's position by the glow seen through the clouds. It did little to provide light, and Hannah started to feel a bit hopeless. By then it had started to rain harder. The tracks Hannah's teammates had made blurred as the rain beat down on them. Lyla splashed through a puddle a few feet ahead, spraying her teamates with muddy water.

The trees got thicker as they traveled onward. Their twisted branches seemed more full of leaves, and they shook violently in the wind. The trees formed a canopy above them, cutting off what light they had, yet the rain still managed to find a way through. The aura of the place felt suffocating and hopeless.

"I think we're lost," Hannah said. "I don't recognize this place." She felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"There's still no sign of her," Lyla said. "The rain's washed away our scent too."

"Do either of you recognize this place?" Hannah asked. She heard a distant rushing noise, perhaps from a river. But she was sure they had not passed one on the way in.

"We couldn't have made a wrong turn, right?" Lyla asked. "I followed our scent trail all the way here!"

"Mystery dungeons mess with senses," Hannah said.

"I... I'm sorry," Lyla replied softly. "I forgot about that."

"I guess we'll have to turn back," Hannah said. "Come on, you two."

"Wait," Lyla said. "Where's Chrissy?"

Hannah glanced behind her, and, to her distress, found that the skitty was no longer behind her.

Lyla ran to where Chrissy should have been. "There's no scent of her," she said. "That doesn't make any sense. Scent trails don't just vanish." She ran further back, but still she found nothing. "There's no way she would have ran off right after Jaylee went missing, right?"

"Lyla," Hannah said, trying to keep her voice from quaking. "Forget Azumarill. We need to get out of this place right now."

Lyla hesitated. "But the others..."

"I think we both know that they didn't just wander off," Hannah said seriously. "There's something out here that's trying to get us. We need to go."

"Okay," Lyla said. "But I... I don't know which way we came in. We made so many turns..."

"Let's just take all the lefts," Hannah suggested. "It might not be the shortest route, but at least it'll get us out."

"Okay," Lyla agreed. "But let's stick close together. I have a really bad feeling about this."

And so they set off. Hannah drifted close to the ground, keeping an arm on Lyla as they ran. She alone could keep up with Lyla when she ran at her fastest, for moving when you're a ghost takes very little energy.

Lyla stumbled suddenly, and Hannah felt panic surge over her, before Lyla said, "I'm fine."

"Lyla," Hannah said. "Can you keep talking? Just so I know that you're still there."

"Okay," Lyla said, and she started to talk. Hannah wasn't really listening to her words, only making sure her voice didn't disappear and leave Hannah alone in the darkness.

Hannah looked up at the sky. With every step forward, it only seemed to get darker. She couldn't even see the moon's glow now.

There was a sudden snapping sound, and Hannah whipped her head around. "What was that?" she asked. She peered into the bushes where the sound had come from and saw a pair of yellow eyes. "Eeek!"

"I'll go see if I can smell anything," Lyla said. "Just scream if anything grabs you."

Ordinarily Hannah would have taken this as a joke. But now, in these woods, she could tell that Lyla was being completely serious. Her eyes didn't leave the growlithe as she went up to the bushes and inspected it. Lyla sniffed.

"Poochyena," she said. "Wild ones smell very different from the ones in town - much more sinister." She leaned closer to the bush. "It's kind of odd, because on our other-"

A furry head shot out the bush and grabbed Lyla, then pulled back in.

"Lyla!" Hannah shouted, and she threw caution to the winds and bolted in after the growlithe.

When Hannah pushed through the bushes, a great horde of poochyena surrounded her. Three mightyena stood in the center. Lyla struggled in the grasp of one of them.

"Hold on, Lyla!" Hannah said, calling the forgotten spirits of the forest to her aid. She felt the grass-type energy flow through her, and she concentrated it, before sending it at the pack of poochyena. "Forest's Curse!" She spoke the name of her attack for Lyla to know what it was.

Lyla, still struggling in the mightyena's grasp, took that as her cue, and sent a burst of flame at the newly-weakened pack. They did not even flinch as the fire burned them. One of the mightyena let out a snarl, shaking Lyla harshly.

Hannah ran at the pack leader, launching as many moves as she could think of at him. But he didn't react to her attacks at all. He seemed completely unfazed. Hannah met her friend's hopeless eyes.

"Hannah," Lyla choked out. "Run."

Hannah hesitated for a moment, then she fled, gliding forward as fast as she could. When she reached the edge of the trees, she turned for one final look, and saw the mass of poochyena descending on her friend, claws out, ripping and snarling.

 _Run._


	2. The Mysterious Litten

Hayden floated beside a table, grinding oran berries and in a small wooden bowl with a rock, which he held in his shadowy hands. He liked to have things to do, and as he was currently waiting for his newest patient to wake up, he couldn't really do anything else.

He glanced at the feathery nest that his patient, a litten, was sleeping in. She was... odd. Having treated a few litten before, and because it was common knowledge that cat pokémon like litten acted this way, Hayden knew that her way of sleeping wasn't normal. For one, she wasn't curled up like most cats. Instead, she was lying partially on her back, with front legs stuck out randomly around her, and her back legs stretched out underneath her. She seemed not to know where to put her tail - he'd seen her shift it many times. It was, to Hayden especially, a very odd way to sleep. In fact, she was sleeping in a way that no pokémon Hayden had ever seen slept, not even bipedal ones like lucario, though that was what her position was closest too.

Then the litten shifted, and Hayden snapped out of his musings. But she had only shifted her tail, yet again. Shaking his head at her strangeness, he floated through the table and over to her bed, and briefly felt her forehead. Her fever had gone down, so the occa berry mix he'd given her seemed to be working.

And yet another oddity - he'd found her passed out on the beach. After checking her, he'd found that she had no wounds, not even a mild bruise or scrape. She had no scars either, which meant that she hadn't gotten into a fight, nor joined a rescue team. He'd never seen her around town either, and when he'd asked his electrike assistant, Engru, if her scent told him anything, Engru had told her that she had no scent of anything except litten fur besides the sand and ocean water. Engru had been really surprised by this too. To have no place-scent was one thing, but to have no scent of others whatsoever? It was intriguing to say the least.

Just then, the litten twitched again, then she opened her eyes. She winced.

"Uh, are you alright?" Hayden asked.

Her eyes darted around the room, finally focusing on Hayden. A confused look filled her face.

"Who are you?" she asked. She frowned. "Of course, it's no use talking to you. You can't answer me. Could you go get your trainer?"

It took Hayden a moment to process this bizarre information. Clearly, she didn't think phantump could talk, which wasn't all that odd, considering that there were areas in which only wild phantump lived, who didn't talk, but who was this "trainer" she was talking about? She obviously wasn't from around here, but she spoke english, and not - he thought with annoyance of a certain floette in town - __french__ or some other foreign language.

So many questions, but it was best not to pester her too much. "Actually, I can talk," he said. "But what do you mean by trainer?"

"You- What!?" the litten asked in shock and surprise. "You can?"

"Yes," Hayden replied, amused. "I'm not your run-of-the-mill wild phantump. Name's Hayden. It's nice to meet you."

The litten blinked, looking him with interest. "I'm Shira. Nice to meet you too."

"So..." Hayden said, then trailed off, distracted by the fact that her tail was completely still. Strange. "What did you mean by trainer?"

"Oh, do you not have one?" Shira asked. "How did you learn to speak, then?"

Was she avoiding his question on purpose? "I guess I just grew up around pokémon that could speak."

"There are more of you that can speak?" Shira exclaimed.

Hayden was shocked. She'd never met any pokémon that could speak before? Had she lived in the wild for her whole life, yet somehow had the superior intelligence of civilized pokémon? No... even __wild__ pokémon could talk to their same species. Where was she __from?__

"What?" Shira asked, seeming to read his facial expression. "Is... is it common knowledge around here?"

"Yes," Hayden responded. "I guess you're not from around here."

"No," Shira admitted. "Where am I, anyway?"

"My home, Umbra Cottage," Hayden replied. "In Mellow Woods, which is northwest of West Town."

"You... live in a house?" Shira asked.

"Yes," Hayden confirmed. That was another pointed in favor of her being wild born. But... perhaps she'd lived alone in the wild. He supposed it was possible, if her parents and siblings had gotten killed by a predator. But why would she have been spared?

"I didn't think trainerless pokémon lived in houses," Shira said. "Of course, I didn't think pokémon talked either."

"Except yourself?" Hayden added, and, though it was more of a rhetorical question, Shira responded.

"Well, obviously __I__ can talk, but all __humans__ can talk," she said. "And I was talking about pokémon, not humans."

Hayden didn't realize what she had just said until about a minute afterwards. "You... think you're a human?"

"...Yes?" Shira said, raising an eyebrow. "Have you not seen a human before?"

"No-one's seen a human," Hayden said, snorting. "Humans are myths. I mean, what sort of thing can have all colors of hair and skin, no powers whatsoever, and the males look like machamp and the females look like a cross between jynx and gardevoir?"

"Um..." Shira said. "That's not what humans look like. Humans look like I do."

"Really?" Hayden asked, unsure whether to believe her or not. "Do you mean that they look like litten, or that they can transform into other pokémon?"'

"You... Are you trying to say I look like a litten?" Shira asked, automatically raising one paw to inspect it.

For a moment she just stood there, staring at her paw, her face blank and expressionless.

Then she screamed.

Hayden felt a sudden panic, instantly regretting telling her that. She was clearly deranged, and he didn't have experience with mental illness. He should have just kept her calm until he could get her to a proffesional at this.

"No, no, no, no, no," Shira said, shaking her head. "This is is some elaborate prank. Someone's got a zoarark or something and this is all just an illusion. Yes, that's it."

Hayden scoffed. "Zoroark wouldn't visit my house. He knows that I'd sent him right on home." He glanced at her expression, and hastened to say something else. "I mean, it'll be okay. Just calm down; we'll be able to sort this out."

She gave him a scathing look. "I just found out that instead of being the human that I am __99 percent certain__ I'm supposed to be, I'm a __litten__ that lives in a strange society where pokémon __live in houses__ and __talk__ and don't even think humans are __real__ , and I have __no memory__ of how I even __got__ here, and you have the __nerve__ to tell me that __it's going to be okay?!__ " Her voice became shrill at the end, sounding almost hysterical.

Hayden winced. How was he supposed he calm her? Ambrosia always tried to placate patients with soothing words and reassurances.

"Well, it will be okay," Hayden said. "Because I'll take care of you and make sure you're alright." Was that enough? She didn't seem calm yet. "And," he hastened to add, "even though you'll be disoriented and stuff at first, you'll get used to it and you'll come to enjoy being a pokémon. In fact, I bet you'll like it better than being a human! Especially since pathetic humans don't have any powers, and you'll have some new fire abilities!" He smiled at her breifly before continuing. "You could also do rescue missions; I'm sure you'd enjoy them. And, besides, it's a good thing to be able to talk and to live in houses. Can you even __imagine__ living outside like those barbaric wild pokémon do?" He looked at Shira, prompting her for an answer.

Her face was one of pure rage."I don't even want to _ _talk__ to you," she said, barely controlling her anger. "I don't know what your __problem__ is, and I don't know how you can think that I'd rather be a _ _pokémon__ rather than _ _everything I've ever known!__ " She took a deep breath, visibly trying to calm herself. "But I'm not going to stick around long enough to find out!"

She tried to stand, only to crash back to ground, still not used to her new legs.

"Wait," Hayden said. "Where are you going?"

"Into to town!" Shira snapped, attempting to stand one more. "To get someone who can help more than you!"

"You can't just go into town and declare yourself a human!" Hayden said, crossing to the door and floating in front of it.

"Oh yeah?" Shira asked. "And why not?"

"There are legends about human-turned-pokémon!" Hayden said. "And some of them have some really bad things to say about them!" __Plus people will think you__ _'_ _ _re insane!__

"Then I'll just tell them I'm not from around here!" Shira said angrily, finally succeeding in standing up.

"That's not going to work," Hayden said, not budging from his place by the door.

"Move," Shira said.

"But it's not safe out there," Hayden protested. "The forest is dangerous!"

"Get out of my way," Shira snapped. "Or shoot you with some fire. And I don't care if your house gets in the way while I'm doing it."

 _ _Fire?__

Hayden's eyes darted to her face. She looked deadly serious, and Hayden could feel the heat building around her. Wordlessly, he moved out of the way. She pushed through the door and into the outside without looking back.


End file.
